Out Now: Tycoon Edition

By Nick Vigdahl01 Dec 20173

Hey, it's December! When did that happen? We hope our readers from the States enjoyed their turkey and pie and you know, didn't get any food poisoning. If you didn't blow all your gaming cash there's a few good options out this week. Check them out!

Metro is a board game where each player has trains that they look to connect to stations across the board by laying track tiles. The game is scored based on length of track and crazy routes, rather than, you know, efficiently running train lines. The digital version is decent but not great. The graphics are pretty basic, which is generally fine for a board game, but things are a bit small to play on a phone without a ton of zooming in and out, which gets old. The single-player game is not bad, though the AI isn't what one would call great at the game. Multiplayer seems largely unusable as there's no way to tell who's looking for a game or start a private game. I wasn't even able to get into a random game so I can't speak to how things work once you do find somebody to play. Multiplayer is just too much effort and needs some serious reimagining to be viable.

The Google Play Store has a fancy new version of one of the most venerable board games in the history of tables. Asmodee Digital has released Carcassonne for Android, a new three-dimensional replacement meant to rival the quality and polish of the App Store's version. Carcassonne has solo play versus three different AI opponents (Easy Neighbor, Fierce Egoist, and Risk Taker), pass-and-play multiplayer, and asynchronous online play (between Android and Steam). I'm not sure how good the asynchronous multiplayer is, but if the AI is anything like Coding Monkey's iOS version the game is worth it just to play solo. It will also be discounted at launch, just $2. The expansions are on their way, as well, according to Asmodee. Check it out if you're a fan of this classic.

It's been five years since Greenheart Games released super-meta simulation game, Game Dev Tycoon, for the PC. Now, mobile gamers get their turn. The game starts with you at the helm of a garage-based indie-development outfit and follows what is, hopefully, a meteoric rise to dominance. You make all the decisions: from game genre, theme, and platforms, to the all-important catchy name. You assign employees and resources to work on the story, graphics, and sound of our game and getting those elements right are where games succeed or fail. Then you launch and wait for the reviews and sales to roll in. Your ability to customize and improve the game making process improves as you find success. It's an intriguing and very meta simulation and time-management game and worth a look for those who enjoy the genre.

Seen anything else you like? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!